NSW trio 'drank moonshine' before deaths

A north western NSW man, his partner and her brother may have been drinking moonshine provided by a fellow community member for months before they died, a court has heard.

Roger Adams, 37, Sandra Boney, 40, and her brother Norman Boney, 46, all lived around Collarenebri when they died within two months of each other in early 2015

An inquest into the deaths has heard police found about 100 empty bottles lying around a tank at the home of Ms Boney and Mr Adams in the indigenous community of Walli Reserve after the deaths.

They also seized soft drink, wine and spirit bottles as well as a distillery from the home of community member Mary Miller, who witnesses say may have been providing boxes of booze to a member of the Boney family for up to six months.

In her opening, counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer said Ms Miller and her partner, Graham Stewart, told police they had been making their own spirits and that wine found at the home had been purchased for $2 a bottle at auction.

"They also told police that these bottles of spirits were occasionally given as gifts, or as part of a bartering system," Ms Dwyer said in an address to a coroner's court at Walgett.

"Mary Miller is recorded telling police that she did give approximately 24 of the small plastic bottles of what she believed to be wine to Margaret Boney (Norman and Sandra's sister)."

The court heard Ms Boney and Mr Adams had been in a long-standing relationship and shared a home with extended family.

Ms Dwyer said Mr Adams went to hospital vomiting blood shortly after his partner died.

He was later discharged but, according to his sister, began to drink more than usual, buying bottles of red wine and port from an IGA supermarket.

The court has been told he was travelling in a car when he started convulsing in March 2015.

"Naturally he was grieving the death of his partner ... and appeared to have difficulty coping with (it)," Ms Dwyer said.

"He was deeply saddened by Sandra's death, but lived only a month and a half longer than she did."

Mr and Ms Boney and Mr Adams had all been drinking since they were teenagers, the inquest heard.

Autopsies found their deaths were a direct result of "organising pneumonia" and that alcohol abuse had "ravaged" their bodies and caused irreparable organ damage.

Ms Dwyer said methanol, which can be ingested if moonshine is incorrectly distilled, causes "frightening" symptoms and is used as an antifreeze and a paint solvent in many countries.

The coroner's court heard a woman in the community reported her arms going numb for 10 to 15 minutes after one nip of red liquid just before Christmas 2014.